Out of the Dark
by DreamWvr73
Summary: Gillian's security status at Phoenix is not as high as MacGyver's, and she wants to do something about that.


Gillian woke up, it was the middle of the night and she discovered that she was the only occupant of the bed. She turned over and glanced at the clock, it read 1 25. She got out of bed and opened the bedroom door, she walked down the hall and went into the kitchen. She was looking for her husband and found him; he was sitting at the table building something. Gillian came up behind MacGyver and put her arms around his bare waist. "Hi."

"What are you doing up?"

"I woke up to discover my husband wasn't in bed." She kissed his cheek and looked at what he was making. "What is that?"

Mac shrugged. "Oh it's not much, just a bomb."

"A bomb? Why are you making a bomb?"

"No reason."

Gillian stood up. "I find that hard to believe Mac, you wouldn't be making a bomb for fun."

She walked around his chair and looked at the metal box; it was a mess of wires and little circuit boards. MacGyver sighed; it was part of his new assignment, a top secret one. "I have to go do something."

"You can't really tell me more specifics then that?"

Mac looked at her. "I think it'd be best if you didn't know."

Gillian eyed him suspiciously. "It'd be best for me _to know. Do you honestly think I can let you just walk out that door carrying a bomb and not even know where you are going?"_

He closed his eyes briefly and wiped his hand down his face. "Gillian, I don't want you to worry."

Gillian walked up to him and lifted his chin. "Of course I'm going to worry." She bent down and gave him a small kiss. 

"Pete told me that I have to keep it from you Gillian, it's a matter of security."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "When do you leave?"

"Two days."

Gillian reached out and touched his shoulder. "When will you be coming to bed?"

Mac stopped what he was doing and looked at his wife. "I can come now, I wanted to get this done but I have time."

He could see in her face that she wasn't thrilled about being kept in the dark, but he knew that it wasn't up to him, if he could tell her where he had to go and why, he would. "I'm sorry I can't tell you about all this."

Gillian nodded. "I know, but if it's a matter of security, I can't argue with that. My clearance isn't that high yet."

MacGyver stood up and took his wife's hand. "Come on, let's go to bed."

The couple walked down the hall and went into their bedroom and closed the door behind them.

Gillian was in her office. She was chewing on her fingernails, MacGyver, Pete and a couple more operatives had left at dawn.  She had a lot of work to do but not the frame of mind to do it in, once again Mac was gone and once again his little wife had no clue where or why. This really played on the young woman's mind, bad enough that he had to leave but it was even worst being totally clueless.  She leaned back in her chair and sighed, there _had to be a way to get her security clearance as high as Mac's._

MacGyver slowly lifted his head from the salty water; he took the scuba mask off of his face. He looked around and saw that it was all clear, no one was around and he carefully swam to shore. It was the middle of the night and everything was bathed in darkness, the only light source was the moon but it was in its fingernail stage and did little to pierce the dense blackness. 

Mac spotted some rocks and he walked over to them and took off his tank and his flippers, he left his knapsack strapped across his chest. He crouched down and peered over the rock. His reason for this nocturnal trip was a short distance away, a very large gray castle that was so close to the water it actually lapped against the side of it at high tide. 

MacGyver had a headset on and he raised the microphone part up, it pressed against his cheek.

"Spotted it."

_"How far away is it?"_

"About 20 yards."

Pete and the two other operatives were on a small fishing boat half a mile away, they were watching Mac through night vision binoculars. Pete had a telescope and he flipped the lens over it to night vision and peered into it, everything was green but he could see his friend clearly.  "I see you Mac, the coast is clear. Where's your present?"

_"Right here, it's in my knapsack."_

"Good, you just plant it and get out of there."

_"I know, give me 15 minutes."_

"All right, starting now. You go ahead, Jenkins, Parker and I will be your eyes."

_"Copy that."_

MacGyver held his knapsack against his chest; he unzipped his black wetsuit and stuck his hand into it. He brought a long silver chain out, it had his wedding ring on it and he gave it a small kiss.

"Wish me luck Gillian."

He tucked it back in as he came out from behind the rock and ran as fast as he could over to the side of the enormous gray structure. 

This castle had been under surveillance by the government for three months. It was discovered that the basement of it served as a chemical weapons lab. The government had asked the Phoenix Foundation to destroy it; Pete had asked MacGyver to handle it.

Mac crouched down on the north side of the building; he took his knapsack off of his chest and carefully set it down on the sand. He took the metal box out of it and opened it.

_"What explosive did you use for it Mac?"_

"Lithium."

_"Lithium?__ How is it going to blow up?"_

Mac took a silver container that looked like a thermos out of his knapsack and opened it; he poured the soft silvery white substance into the special area of his little present. He put thermos back in his knapsack and left the metal box wide open. He turned around and looked at the water, the tide was already started to roll in. He picked up the metal box and put it up against the side of the castle.

"I'm going to use the tide as the trigger."

_"How?"_

"Lithium and water react violently to each other, the sodium that's in the water with only add to the force of the explosion, the castle should be leveled."

The water started coming in faster and Mac checked his watch. "I think its time to go boys, all clear?"

_"Yeah Mac it's clear, come on back."_

MacGyver ran back to the rock and put his tank back on and buckled it around his waist, he put his flippers on and walked back into the water. He took his mask and dipped it into the water; he cleaned it off and stuck it back over his face. He checked his watch again as he put the respirator in his mouth and dove into the water.

Pete was standing on the platform at the end of the little boat, his friend suddenly popped up and he stuck out his hand and helped Mac onto the boat.

"How much time do we have?"

"Not long, the tide is coming in pretty fast." Mac took the scuba gear off and shook out his head; he ran his fingers through his wet hair. 

Pete handed him a towel. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

The two men were standing on the back of the little boat looking out towards the dark grey castle. Pete raised his binoculars to his face. 

Mac was also looking at the castle as he dried his hair. "Should be any minute now." He took the binoculars from his friend, he could see the tide was almost all the way in. "Pete, I suggest we either get down or go inside."

No sooner had he said that there was a massive explosion, the two men dropped down. The explosion was so huge it even rocked the boat. Mac slowly lifted his head up and saw that the castle was gone, it had become nothing more than a huge smoldering pile of broken brick and powdered concrete.

"It worked."

Pete slowly got up and smiled. "Well that should make the Pentagon happy." He reached over and patted his friend on the back. "Good work."

Mac gave his friend a smile. "Thanks."

MacGyver unlocked the door and stepped inside the house. Gillian as usual, had left the living room light on, she always did that when he was gone; she was leaving the light on for him. He dropped his knapsack on the couch and closed the door behind him. He yawned and rubbed his hands over his face. It was a little after 4 in the morning and all he wanted to do was curl up in bed with his wife. He walked down the hall to their bedroom and carefully opened the door. 

Gillian was on his side of the bed, another thing she always did when he was gone. She was wearing a t-shirt, the sheet was down around the edge of the bed. She was totally uncovered.  Mac was looking at her long legs and he sighed, that was probably his favorite part of his wife, her legs. 

Mac took off his black vinyl jacket and dropped it on top of his dresser. He kicked off his tennis shoes and unzipped his jeans and tossed them on the hamper that was on the far side of the room. He lifted his t-shirt over his head and also flung it on the top of the hamper. He reached down and took off his socks and climbed onto the bed. He moved close to his wife, she was lying on her right side; he leaned over and kissed her cheek. She groaned and moved a little, she brought her knees up and sighed. 

Mac leaned down close to her ear. "Wake up Gillian." He whispered this into her ear and kissed it. 

Gillian heard the voice of her husband; she thought she was only dreaming. She slowly opened her eyes and saw him lying beside her. "Mac?"

He gave her a nod. "Hi Baby."

She looked at him and realized that he wasn't a dream, she smiled and hugged him. "When did you get back?"

"Just now, Pete dropped me off."

"How did it go?"

"Good." 

Gillian saw the long silver chain that was around his neck, it went to the center of his chest. She lifted it up and saw his wedding ring. "Why is your ring on a chain?"

"I always put it on the chain whenever I go somewhere, so nothing happens to it." He took the chain off and opened it; he took his ring off of it and slipped it back on his finger. "There." He reached over and set the chain down on his nightstand. 

Gillian smiled, she was so glad to see him. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him long and deep. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, but I'm home now and I have the next four days off."

"Really? So we can have a nice 6 day weekend huh?"

Mac nodded. "Will Pete give you the days off?"

"Sure, he owes me from last month when I worked those two straight weekends to get those artifacts sorted and dated for that museum in Cairo. He said just call him and let him know when I wanted to take them."

Her husband gave her a wicked smile. "Well I think you better call him, I don't think we are going to leave this bed for the next 6 days."

Gillian smiled. "Gee Mr. MacGyver; are we going to sleep all that time?"

MacGyver slowly shook his head.

"Umm… play cards?"

Again he shook his head. 

"Gee, then what _are we going to do?"_

"Guess." Mac stretched out on top of his wife and kissed her.

MacGyver was sitting at Pete's desk; he was typing on the keyboard and reading the article about the chemical lab off of the coast of Crete that had been destroyed. No one had been injured but the castle and the lab was a total loss. This made Mac smile, he always worried about something he made hurting or killing someone.  The door opened and Pete walked in, he saw his friend sitting at his desk.

"You know Mac; we need to get you an office. You're always using mine."

"I don't want an office and I don't need an office, between yours and Gillian's I'm well covered."

Mac spun around in the chair and looked at his friend. "Did you see this?" He pointed to his white t-shirt; it had the Phoenix Foundation logo on the breast pocket.

"Yeah I authorized them, nice aren't they?"

"Actually they are, I'm surprised the board approved them."

"They did, and in every color."

Pete was holding a form in his hand. "Mac there is something I think you should see."

"Okay what?"

He handed his friend the form, Mac looked at it. "It's an application to the Operative Program."

Pete nodded. "Yeah, look at the name."

Mac opened the form and saw the name. It read, MacGyver, Gillian. He closed the form and got up from Pete's chair. "Any idea where Gillian is?"

"I think she's in her office."

"Thanks." Mac left Pete's office in a very big hurry.

Gillian was also wearing a white Phoenix t-shirt.  She was wearing hers with white jean shorts, not blue jeans like Mac was, she was sitting at her desk typing. The door to her office opened and Mac walked in, he didn't look very happy. He tossed the application on her desk. "What's this?"

Gillian saw it and closed her eyes for a moment. "It's an application for the Operative Program."

MacGyver was frowning. "I know what it is Gillian, what I don't know is why your name is on it." 

She didn't say anything and he sat down on the edge of her desk. "Tell me you aren't seriously considering this."

"I _am considering it."_

"Why?"

Gillian stopped what she was doing and looked at her husband. "Mac, what is my security clearance?"

MacGyver licked his lips and pressed them together. "You're a 3."

"Right, a 3, a lowly, low man on the totem pole, 3. That is nothing more than a glorified pencil sharpener as far as security is concerned. That entitles me to know exactly nothing, not one little tiny detail about anything even remotely important."

MacGyver shook his head. "It doesn't mean that."

"It does too! I'm a 3 Mac and you're a 5. You and Pete know everything that goes on here. A pen can drop on the roof and the two of you would know about it before it hit the ground."

Mac titled his head back; he knew she was telling the truth. There was very little that went on that he and Pete weren't aware of. 

Gillian got up from her desk and walked around it, she stood in front of her husband. "I know absolutely nothing Mac. You disappear for days or weeks at a time and I'm left behind to play guessing games with myself.  I wonder what country he's in this time.  Do you know what I go through whenever you leave? I have to practically sit on my hands because if I don't I'm so tempted to break my promise to you about using my abilities to spy on your assignments. Do you have any clue how hard it is to not know where you are or why? You can't even tell me because I don't have the clearance."

Mac sighed and touched her hands. "I tell you about my assignments."

"Yeah when they are long over and done with Mac, and the only reason you do is because I'm your _wife! You aren't even supposed to be telling me about them and you know that, you could get in a lot of trouble."_

Gillian squeezed his hands. "I want to do this so I can get my level 5 clearance, so that way at _least I would be able to know where you are going and that would be a big load off of my mind; it would give me __some peace until you got home. I don't want to do this to be in the way or the nagging little wife that just __has to tag along, no; I'm doing it because I don't want to be in the dark anymore. This is the only way for me to get my clearance for 5 and fast, if I did it the regular way it would take years." _

Mac was looking at her with those dark eyes of his and she could read him like a book. "You are the best operative Phoenix has Mac. You are the absolute best, I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. I'm not about to ask you to quit, that's not fair. You were doing this long before I came along. I know how much you love it and I don't want to give you an ultimatum that would force you to choose between us. I couldn't do that to you, the work you do is very important and I want you to keep doing it, so stop thinking that, okay?"

MacGyver gave her a small smile. "Okay."

Gillian reached up and touched his face. "I know you aren't happy about this and I'm sorry. Believe me if there was another way for me to get my 5, I would take it in a heartbeat, but there is no other way." She gave him a small kiss. "Please?"

MacGyver sighed loudly, the truth was he really did feel bad about the fact he could never tell her anything. She was right; the normal way would take at least 3 years. He slowly nodded his head. "Okay."

Gillian smiled at him and hugged him; Mac put his arms around his wife. "It won't be easy you know. The program is pretty grueling, especially the guy who's in charge of it this year."

She pulled back and looked at him. "Really? Who did the board choose to run it this year?"

MacGyver smiled widely. "Me."

Gillian closed her eyes and covered them with her hand. "Oh no."

She knew that Phoenix had very high standards for their operatives, with her husband in charge those standards would not only be met but surpassed. She uncovered her face and looked at him, he only smiled; it was a sinister smile that didn't show his teeth. 

Gillian knew at that precise moment that she was in trouble; her husband was going to be unmerciful.

"Good Morning!"

MacGyver was standing in front of 6 people that had applied and were approved to participate in the Operative Program. There were 2 accountants, one engineer, one archaeologist, and 2 lab techs. Much to her surprise, Gillian was the only woman. 

MacGyver was dressed in his white Phoenix t-shirt, black cotton shorts, and tennis shoes. He had a clipboard in his hand and a whistle around his neck. He was all smiles and that had Gillian worried, he looked way too happy for it being 6 in the morning.

"Welcome to an old military base, they closed this place back in the 50's, but we got special permission to use it for training purposes. Allow me to introduce you to my partner, Pete, he will be assisting me over the next two days."

Pete was wearing the same t-shirt Mac was but he had on jeans with his. He smiled at everyone. "Good Morning."

Gillian had dressed in a peach tank top, khaki shorts and hiking boots. She crossed her arms over her chest; Mac had been totally secret about what he had planned for everyone. She only hoped it wasn't as bad as she thought, she knew her husband could be downright devious.  They were all standing in what obviously had to be the old boot camp; there was a complicated looking obstacle course all around them.

"Okay, step one is the Obstacle Course." MacGyver handed Pete his clipboard. "Let me walk you through it." 

MacGyver jogged over to set of wide monkey bars; he jumped up on them and went across.  Then he ran over to a long rope that was hanging from a tall structure and climbed up it, he touched the top of the rope and climbed back down. "Now you go over here." 

He jogged over to a large square that was made of very narrow logs; he carefully walked along the top of them all the way around. The next structure was a huge wooden frame with a cargo net hanging from it, he got a running start and jumped on to it. He climbed all the way to the top of it, then walked along the top and down a ladder that was on the side.  

The next structure was a long log, it was pretty high in the air and the only way up to it was from a rope on the side. Mac climbed to the top of the rope, he hugged the log and went hand-over-hand across it a little ways, then he brought his legs up and wrapped them around the log, he shimmied all the way across it. He jumped down and went to the last thing. It was a huge mud puddle; there were two structures with ropes hanging on either side of the puddle. 

Mac ran and grabbed the rope; he swung across the huge dirty puddle and jumped down. He wasn't even out of breath as he jogged back over to the crowd. 

"Okay, that's the obstacle course, what do you think?"

Gillian sighed and covered her eyes with her hands. "You don't want to know." 

The course was a lot tougher than she thought and she really hoped it wouldn't be a problem. She was in shape but she didn't have the strength that Mac did.

MacGyver smiled at his wife. "Don't worry about it Gillian, you'll do fine."

Pete handed the clipboard back to his friend; Mac took it and stuck the whistle in his mouth. "Okay team, let's get started."

He blew on his whistle and the day began.

Gillian was hanging from the big log.  She was only halfway across it, she made the mistake of looking down and a wave of fear hit her.

"Come on Gillian you're almost there." 

Mac was watching his wife, he knew she had the same problem he did on occasion, a strong dislike of heights. She shook her head and continued to shimmy across it; she reached the other side and jumped down.  She got a good running start and ran towards the last obstacle and grabbed the rope, she swung across the mud puddle and jumped down from the rope. She was done. She breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her brow as she walked back over to the crowd. 

Mac smiled at her and put his hand up. "Good job." She gave him a high five and he winked at her, he looked back down at his clipboard.

"Okay, let's see, Nelson, you're up."

Gillian was sitting on the ground drinking a bottle of water; Pete came up to her and sat down beside her. 

"Hi Gill, how are you holding up?"

"Fine, doing better than I thought I would."

Pete patted her on the back. "I think you're doing great."

Gillian smiled at him. "Thanks Pete, so what's next?"

"According to Mac's clipboard, Self Defense."

"Self Defense?"

Pete nodded. "Yeah, we can't have our operatives going out there totally unprepared to defend themselves."

Gillian sighed. "So we are going to learn to kick butt?"

"Well, a little bit. I mean most of us _do know how to defend ourselves in some small way, we just want to see what it looks like."_

"Oh this is going to be interesting, who's going to be the target?"

Pete smiled. "Your husband."

MacGyver had borrowed some protective clothing from the local attack dog training school. He was covered from head to foot in yellow foam. 

"Okay guys, now we all know that being an operative can be a little risky; all Pete and I want to see is how you would handle yourself if faced with a situation where you might have to fight with someone." He put a helmet over his head, it was also covered with the foam,. He fastened the strap across his chin.

Gillian had pressed her lips together and covered her mouth; she was trying so hard not to laugh. 

Mac saw her and he cleared his throat. "Gillian… would you like to go first?"

She could feel her face flush. "Well not really."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh good, come on over here."

Gillian sighed, she didn't really want to do this. The idea of beating up her husband didn't seem like fun. She was standing in front of him; he looked like a big block of Styrofoam cheese, only it was people shaped. "Mac are you sure about this?"

"Very sure." 

Without warning he charged her and grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up. Her feet were off the ground. Gillian had not expected that and she forgot who was in that suit, all she thought of was that someone had her around the waist. She brought her legs up between his hard, he dropped her and she fell on her back and brought both of her feet into his stomach and kicked him. Mac fell flat on his back. 

It suddenly dawned on Gillian what she just did and to whom she did it. She gasped and crawled over to her husband, she took off his big helmet. "Mac are you okay?"

He smiled widely at her. "That was great!"

Gillian wiped her hand across her eyes. "Are you sure you didn't feel any of that?" She widened her eyes at him.

MacGyver shook his head. "Well I could feel enough of it to be aware of what you did but not the full force of it." He was like a turtle that had gotten rolled over. "Can you help me get up?"

Gillian stood up and took his hand and hauled him to his feet. "Was that enough or do you need to see more?"

He took his helmet from her and put it back on. "That was good but let's see how you do from behind."

Once again Gillian didn't even have time to think, he rushed her and grabbed her around the waist from behind. She stomped on his foot and elbowed him in the stomach. He let go of her and she reached behind her and grabbed him around the neck. She dropped down onto her behind, and used the force of that action and her weight to flip him over her; she drove her elbow down in the center of his chest. 

Gillian was out of breath from the excitement and the surprise; she once again took off her husband's helmet.

"Mac?"

MacGyver looked at her and shook his head. "Remind me to never make you mad."

Gillian laughed and shook her head. "Are you sure I didn't hurt you?" 

"Pretty sure." He sat up slowly. "Well at least I don't have to worry about you not being able to defend yourself."

She helped him get to his feet and he looked at the group of people. "Okay, who's next?"

It was dusk when the couple got home. They both dragged themselves into the house and into their bedroom, they flopped down on the bed.

"I feel like I've been beaten up."

Gillian moved closer to her husband and rubbed his back. "Actually Sweetie you _were, protective gear or not six people used you for a punching bag."_

"Yeah they did." He turned on his side and looked at her. "You did really good today Gill, I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, I'm proud of me too. I didn't think I was going to be able to do it, especially that obstacle course." She leaned forward and kissed him. "How about I give you a nice massage?"

"Okay." He took off his t-shirt and laid down on his stomach. "Go for it."

Gillian shook her head. "Gee I don't know Mac let me twist your arm a little harder."

She took off her boots and her socks and climbed onto his back. She sat down on his behind and leaned forward, she started at his shoulders. "Wow you are tense."

Mac sighed and closed his eyes. "I won't be anymore if you keep that up." Her hands were firm yet gentle as they worked on his shoulders. "I should have asked you to do this a long time ago."

Gillian moved down and started massaging his back, his comment made her smile. "Didn't know I could give a good massage?"

"Uh uh, but I know now." He sighed again. "I think I just might fall asleep." Mac was getting totally relaxed and in a hurry, her massage felt absolutely heavenly.

She was now working on the middle of his back, rubbing and manipulating the stiff muscles she could feel along his spine. "Poor Mac, but it could have been worse."

"How?" He sounded like he was almost asleep.

"Well you could have been doing all that without that protective gear, then you really would have been beaten up."

"Yeah, my butt would have been kicked by my wife. Where did you learn how to defend yourself?"

"College, I took a few classes. I thought I had forgotten what I learned until you grabbed me."

Gillian was working on his lower back. She was pressing her hands into the muscles there and working out the tension, when she felt it was all gone she stopped. "Okay you are sufficiently massaged, how do you feel?"

"Sleepy."

"You were supposed to feel relaxed." She climbed off him and sat down on the bed beside him.

Mac lifted his head and looked at her. "I do, thanks." He leaned forward and kissed her.

"You're welcome; maybe you'll let me do that more often."

"Definitely." He reached out and grabbed his wife and drew her to him. "You know what happens at dawn right?"

Gillian nodded. "Yeah, I can't say I'm looking forward to it."

Mac had his arms around his wife. "You'll do all right Gillian; it's just a small survival test."

"Being dumped in the woods at dawn with very few supplies and having to stay there until dawn the next day is not my idea of fun."

"I know but it's a test of your ingenuity and skill."

"Neither one of which I have." She turned and looked at her husband. "You know me Mac I'm about as ingenious as a stick of chewing gum. You are the one that can use a chocolate bar to stop sulfuric acid, not me."

Mac sighed and kissed her cheek. "Come on now, you don't give yourself enough credit. You're very smart Gillian, I know you'll do just fine."

She hugged her husband around the neck and leaned her head against his chest. "I'm glad one of us is so sure."

The survival test consisted of the 6 people being dropped off at different locations in the woods that surrounded the old army base. Each person had been given a small amount of rope, a canteen, a pocket knife, and a flare gun. They had to stay in the woods all day and use these various objects to find food, water and shelter. If things became too difficult, the flare gun was their way out; all they had to do was fire it and someone would retrieve them.  

Gillian was pretty nervous, but Mac had lent her his Swiss Army knife; he said it would bring her as much luck as it always brought him. Gillian had been dropped off in a pretty dense area. She had dressed for today's little test in a blue tank top and black cotton shorts. She had on her hiking boots again which was a good thing considering where she was. She walked around the thick trees looking for a good place to make her camp.

"How's she doing?"

Mac and Pete were sitting up in a tree about 20 yards away from Gillian; he was watching his wife through a pair of binoculars. "So far so good, looks like she is going to make camp in that little clearing that's up ahead."

He passed the binoculars to his friend. Pete looked through them and nodded.

"Yeah looks that way."

Mac knew that his wife was not very confident in herself; he had decided to keep an eye on her. He had his binoculars, a fanny pack with some supplies, a canteen, and a walkie talkie hooked to his belt. The radio suddenly blared into life.

_"__Phoenix__ 1 to Leader."_

Mac took the radio off of his belt. "Go ahead Phoenix 1."

_"Have spotted flare about 100 yards to the west, request permission for retrieval."_

Mac looked at Pete. "That's where we dropped off Baker."

Pete shook his head. "Well, I guess he couldn't handle it after all."

He pressed the button on his radio. "Granted Phoenix1, Leader out."

Gillian had found her camp and sat down on a fallen log, she sighed and looked around. She was in a clearing, it was nice and cool. 

"Well Gillian, you're in the woods. Time to tap into the Cherokee blood that's in you, if your ancestors can do it, so can you."

She reached into her pocket and took out two rubber bands. She put them around her wrist and smoothed her hair back. She made a pony tail and divided her hair into three sections; she braided it and tied it off with the other rubber band. "Okay, that's step one, time to find some water."

Gillian had walked far off in the distance and had found a small stream; she was crouched down and was drinking water. 

Mac and Pete had moved to a taller tree so they could get a better view of her activities.

"Well she found the stream." Mac put his binoculars down.

"Good, she's getting the hang of this."

"Yeah she is." He put his binoculars back on and watched as she filled her canteen. 

Gillian walked back to her camp and set her canteen down on the ground. She sighed and rubbed her stomach, it was telling her that she was hungry. 

"Man I'm starving, there has to be food around here somewhere." She started off in the other direction looking for food.

_"__Phoenix__ 1 to Leader."_

Mac set his binoculars down and took the radio off of his belt. "Go ahead."

_"Have spotted two more flares, one south, one southwest."_

He let go of the button. "Boy they are dropping like flies aren't they? That's Simmons and Nelson."

Pete shook his head. "I guess Accountants don't like the woods."

"Roger that Phoenix 1, permission granted for retrieval, Leader out."

Mac shook his head and looked at his friend. "That means there are only three left, Gillian, Weiler, and Hiliker."

"Well Mac not everyone is cut out to be an operative. This test will separate those who can from those who can't. They have to be able to survive if they are lost in the woods, you know that. Remember when we were in Romania?"

"Yeah, Victor."

"Exactly and you were lost in the woods with very little, but you made it."

"Yeah I did, but like you said not everyone is cut out for operative work. I only hope Gillian is one of those that is."

Gillian had walked a mile away from her camp. She spotted what she was looking for; there were some bushes that had berries on them. She picked one of them off and sniffed it, it was a wild raspberry. She put it in her mouth and chewed it, it was nice and sweet. She smiled and pulled her tank top out of the waistband of her shorts. She stretched the extra material out and used it as a basket, she started picking berries and folding them in her shirt.

"That clever little woman."

Mac was watching her through his binoculars.

"What?"

He handed them to Pete. "She found the berry patch."

Pete put the binoculars up and looked through them. "Yup, she found the raspberries."

The day wore on and Gillian had eaten her fill of raspberries, she was sitting down on the ground relaxing. She picked up her canteen and had a sip of water.

"Well Gillian, you've eaten, you got water, but its going to be dark soon and you need to find some way to make a fire." The young woman leaned back against the fallen log. "Come on, think, what would Mac do if he were here?"

She lifted her head. "He would say to go find a way to make fire, but what way? I don't have any matches."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "What would your ancestors do Gillian?"

The answer came to her and she smiled. "That's it." She got up and started heading back down to the stream.

Mac and Pete were munching on trail mix and drinking water from a canteen. Pete took it from his friend and had another sip of the water.

"What do you suppose she's doing back at the stream?"

Mac wiped trail mix crumbs off of his face. "Well, she has to realize it's going to be dark in a few hours. We didn't give them any matches so my guess is she is looking for a way to make a fire." He picked up his binoculars and looked through them. He watched his wife; she was looking at all the large rock formations that were around the stream. 

"Oh man."

Pete looked at him. "What?"

"Is she doing what I think she's doing?"

"What? What is she doing?"

MacGyver took the binoculars away from his face. "Well unless I'm mistaken she's looking for limestone."

Pete creased his brow. "Limestone? Why?"

Mac turned towards his friend. "It's what's inside the limestone she's after Pete, flint."

He raised the binoculars once again and smiled. "Yup, that's what she's doing and it looks like she found some."

Mac shook his head, he thought about what she had said last night about not being skilled or ingenious. "That's very smart Gillian and you said you weren't ingenious."

Gillian had a good size piece of limestone; she sat down on one of the large rocks and started hitting the rock she found against it.

"Break come on break!"

She picked it up with both hands and brought it down hard. The limestone broke in half and she picked it up and looked at the inside. The inside was a dark grey color, it was definitely flint; this made her smile. "Bingo, we have flint."

The young woman felt as though she was on top of the world, she had everything she needed to survive the night and she was feeling pretty proud of herself. She decided to go exploring, she had climbed up a small ridge, it was about 30 feet above the woods. 

The view was incredible the ridge overlooked an older section of the forest and there were many older broken and splintered trees that were right below. They had sharp jagged points that looked like spears.

"Those looks pretty dangerous."

She decided that perhaps she better back a little away from the edge, she took a couple of steps back. What she didn't realize was that she was standing on a rock, a very unsteady rock. She decided to head back to her camp, she turned and that was when the rock slipped.  She gasped as she felt herself go, she threw herself forward and was able to keep from falling head first; but she still managed to go sliding down the hill straight towards those sharp tree spears.

Mac and Pete had moved to a closer tree. Gillian had been gone a long time and her husband was starting to get worried about her. The sun was beginning to set.

"Do you think she's okay?"

Pete nodded. "Yeah Mac she's probably just out looking around."

The two men heard something and Mac picked up his binoculars and looked through them. He spotted his wife, she looked strange. He turned the wheel in the middle; this caused the binoculars to zoom in. 

Gillian was all disheveled, her hair was almost out of the braid, her clothes were torn and dirty. She had scratches going down her arms and legs and a few on her face. She was holding her left arm and Mac could see there was a large amount of blood going down it.

"Oh my God."

"What?"

Mac licked his lips and handed the binoculars to his friend. "Something happened to her."

Pete took the binoculars and looked through them. "Holy Cow!"

Gillian's left arm was screaming in pain, she sat down on the ground and took her hand away from it. There were two huge gashes, she had gone tumbling down right into those tree spears and they had torn through her arm. Her hands were shaking, her arm looked really bad.

"Way to go Gillian, way to go."

It was beginning to get dark. She gathered up a few little twigs and some pine needles, she took the flint stone out of her pocket along with Mac's knife and opened the long blade.

"Please, let this work."

She was holding the knife in her left hand and the stone in her right. She scraped the blade along the dark grey center and sparks came out, they hit the pine needles and a small fire started. She quickly started piling little bits of wood into it and the fire really started to get going. She sighed out of relief and set the stone down on the ground. 

"Oh man that arm looks bad." Mac was worried about his wife. Her arm was bleeding pretty heavily; he saw the two huge gashes in it.

Pete was also getting concerned. "We can't interfere Mac. This is a test; hers just became a little more challenging."  
Mac sighed. "I don't want anything to happen to her Pete."

"Nothing is Mac, she's smart and she knows about nursing. She took care of Jack when he got shot right?"

"Right."

"We'll keep an eye on her, remember if she wanted to quit she would have fired off her flare gun."

Gillian was well aware of her bleeding arm, she opened the scissors part of Mac's knife and carefully lifted her tank top over her head; she was wearing a gray sports bra underneath.  Her left arm screamed out in protest and she gritted her teeth against the onslaught of pain. She cut a thick strip off of the shirt and set it aside. She picked up her canteen and took off the lid. She poured some water on the cuts and cried out as she did so, tilting her head back. She was breathing hard, the water felt like glass being ground into the wound. She tied her tank top around her arm.

"Tourniquet, I need a tourniquet."

She looked around for something to put around the bandage to tighten it, she thought of her belt and reached down and unbuckled it. She pulled it from its loops and put it around her arm. She grabbed the leather belt with her teeth and took a deep breath; she knew this was going to hurt. She pulled on it hard, it tightened around her arm and she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain.

"Good girl Gillian, good thinking." MacGyver lowered the binoculars from his face. "She used her belt for a tourniquet." The radio at his side suddenly came to life. 

_"__Phoenix__ 1 to Leader."_

Mac sighed and took it off of his belt. "Go ahead."

_"Two more flares, east and west of present location, permission requested for pick up."_

The two men looked at each other; Gillian was the only one left. 

"That's it, she's by herself."

Mac pressed the button. "Copy that Phoenix 1, permission granted."

_"10-4 Leader, Phoenix 1, out."_

Gillian was lying down on the ground, holding her left arm against her. She had no idea what time it was or anything, all she knew was that it was the middle of the night and her left arm was hurting so bad she couldn't sleep. She took another sip of water and popped a few berries in her mouth.

Pete was snoring; he was leaning against the tree trunk. Mac kept looking at him and shaking his head, it was like sitting next to a grizzly bear. He was watching his wife, it was a few hours to dawn and he hoped she would be all right until then. She had to be getting weak, the pick up location was a few miles from where she was now and he hoped that she would be able to make it.

Gillian was dozing lightly, she heard something and opened her eyes. The sun was beginning to come up, she had made it. She smiled and carefully sat up, her arm was burning but she held it against and got to her knees, she picked up everything and tucked them into her pockets. She put the canteen on her belt and started walking, she felt weak and her arm was killing her but she had to get to the pick up point.

Mac and Pete were standing in a clearing, the chopper was waiting. Mac was pacing, he kept looking at his watch.

"Will you relax? She'll be here."

Mac had his hands on his hips. "I know she'll be here I just wish she would be quick about it."

Gillian saw the clearing up ahead and her husband waiting for her. She smiled and walked faster as she came through the trees. MacGyver heard something and turned around, he saw his wife crossing the clearing, he felt very relieved.  He noticed that her arm was starting to bleed again; it was running down her arm as she got closer.

Gillian was an absolute mess, but she smiled at her husband. "Good Morning."

Both MacGyver and Pete smiled widely at her. "Morning, what happened to your arm?"

She sighed and shook her head. "I skied down a hill into some very sharp trees Mac."

The couple hugged each other and Mac started unbuckling the belt, he took it off and untied the tank top from around her arm. He saw what was underneath the material and hissed through his teeth. The two cuts were pretty big and looked deep.

"Oh man."

He turned around and looked at Pete. "Tell the pilot we need to take her to the nearest hospital."

Pete nodded and bent down a little as he walked over to the helicopter.

Mac tied the remains of the tank top back around her arm. "Come on Gillian."

"But where are the others?"

"There is no one left, just you."

"Really?"

"Really."

They walked over to the helicopter and Mac helped her climb into it.

Gillian was sitting on a table; an orderly had given her a folded sheet to press against her bleeding arm. She was really beginning to feel it, she felt lightheaded. 

MacGyver saw the way his wife looked. "Lie back Gillian." He helped her lay back and fixed the table so that she was propped up. 

Gillian closed her eyes; her arm was hurting very badly. "I feel weird Mac."

MacGyver looked at her and stroked her hair. "It's just from the blood loss." He gently touched a couple of scratches that were on her cheek. "You were the only one that made it Gillian, out of all of them."

She couldn't help but smile at that. "I can't believe that, those men were a lot tougher than me."

"Tougher doesn't necessarily mean better."

Gillian looked at her husband. "You were pretty tough on me, maybe a little more than you were on the others."

MacGyver shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, maybe I knew deep down that you could do it even though you kept insisting that you couldn't."

"I guess I just needed a little push."

Gillian's arm started getting shooting pains that went down to her fingers; she hissed her teeth against them. 

"What?"

"Shooting pains, where is that doctor?"

"She's right here."

They both turned and saw a young woman with long dark hair and big blue eyes; she had on a white coat over green scrubs. "Let's take a look at what we got here."

She walked around to Gillian's left side and lifted the bloody sheet. "Oh that's nice, what happened?"

"I got into a fight with a tree."

"And the tree won." She put the folded sheet back on it and picked up Gillian's medical record. "Let's see, Miss Gillian MacKenzie."

"Actually that's not true anymore."

The doctor looked at her left hand and saw a diamond ring and a gold band. "Married?"

"Yeah."

MacGyver was standing next to his wife and the doctor looked at him. "Am I correct in assuming that you are her husband?"

Mac gave her a nod. "Right."

The doctor nodded and smiled. "Well aren't you a cutie?" She stuck out her hand. "Leah Broadway."

"MacGyver." They both shook hands and the doctor then shook Gillian's as well.

"A pleasure to meet you both." She turned her attention to Gillian. "Okay, I'm have to go get all the stuff I need to sew up your arm. Are you allergic to local anesthesia?"

Gillian shook her head. "No."

"Good, just sit tight, I'll be right back."

Leah walked away and Gillian shook her head and looked at her husband. "Cutie huh? Boy I can't take you anywhere."

Leah returned with everything she needed to fix Gillian's arm. She unwrapped a kit and rolled it along the tray.  It had sutures on it and a large hypodermic needle that the doctor picked up and filled with the local anesthetic. She picked up a bottle of peroxide and dumped it on the cuts, Gillian flinched at this.

"I'm not going to lie to you Gillian. This is going to hurt, I have to inject the Xylocaine right into those cuts."

The young woman sighed. "I know."

MacGyver reached down and picked up his wife's right hand and held it. "Turn this way Gillian, towards me."

Leah nodded. "Good idea."

Gillian turned her body towards her husband. Leah put on a pair of gloves; she picked up the syringe and checked it to make sure there was no air in it. She took the bloody sheet off of Gillian's arm and spread the first cut open. 

MacGyver was watching her, he knew what was coming. He himself was no stranger to stitches, he moved closer to his wife and put his hand on the back of her neck. He pressed it to his chest. 

"So Gillian, got any degrees?"

The needle went right into the cut and she cried out, but because of where her head was most of the sound was muffled. She turned her head sideways, she was breathing hard. "A few." She squeezed her husband's hand. Mac was stroking her hair, trying to comfort her.

"In what?" Leah gave her another shot and Gillian turned her head back towards her husband's chest.

Mac could hear her crying and it bothered him to hear her. "Shhh, it's all right, it's almost over."

That part of her arm went numb and she turned her head away from his chest. "Bachelor's in Archaeology and nursing, and a Master's in Archaeology."

Leah now looked at the second cut, it was much worse than the first one. Mac saw what she was about to do and he hugged her head. Gillian turned back towards his chest just as she stuck the needle in the center of the cut. Gillian was crying hard now, her head was buried and Mac closed his eyes and let go of her hand, he hugged her and rubbed her back. 

"Doc, could you sort of pick up the pace with those shots?"

Leah looked at him; she could see that he was really becoming more and more bothered by his wife's pain. She gave him a nod and quickly gave Gillian the last two shots, that amount of local anesthetic had made her arm totally numb. 

Mac leaned his head down on the top of Gillian's head and kissed it, she had grown quiet. 

Leah took off her bloody gloves and put fresh ones on, she picked up a suture. "Is it numb?"

Mac sighed. "God I hope so." He touched her on the shoulder. "Gillian?"

She didn't respond and he asked the doctor to wait a second before she started her sewing. He put his arm across her back and lifted her away from his chest, she was unconscious.

"She's out."

Leah nodded. "I'm not surprised, the amount of blood she's lost and the anesthesia; lay her down on the table. Mac fixed the table so that it was totally flat; he laid Gillian down on top of it.

The doctor picked up the suture and started to sew. "So how long have you and Gillian been married?"

MacGyver smoothed the hair away from his wife's face. "5 months."

"Newlyweds huh? Where did you go for your honeymoon?"

"St. Thomas, we were there for two weeks."

"The Virgin Islands, I bet it was beautiful."

"Yeah it was."

Leah finished the first cut and looked at MacGyver. "You probably didn't see much of it didn't you?"

Mac felt his face flush, he smiled. "No, we didn't."

His pink face made the doctor laugh. "Sorry didn't mean to make you blush."  
"It's okay."

The doctor started sewing up the second cut; she was using small stitches for this one as well. "Where do you work?"

MacGyver was watching her sew up his wife's arm. "The Phoenix Foundation, we both work there."

"Oh I've heard of Phoenix, you all make donations to the Children's Hospital every year."

Mac nodded. "Yeah every year, how's it going?"

"Good, almost done. She's going to have to baby this arm for a while. It's going to be pretty sore for a few days."

"Don't worry she will."

"Was it really a tree that did this?"

"Yeah, she fell down a hill and into some sharp branches."

Leah finished and took off her gloves. She put on another pair of fresh ones and took some gauze and first-aid tape. She covered the cuts heavily and cut long strips of first-aid tape, she secured the gauze with them. "You'll have to change the bandage at least once a day, use peroxide or alcohol to clean it. She can't get the stitches wet, if she wants to take a shower you have to cover it with plastic or whatever to keep them dry." She opened a drawer under the table and took out a couple boxes of gauze and a brand new roll of first-aid tape. "Here, this should hold you for a few days, bring her back in a week; if everything is healing nicely I'll take out the stitches. Any questions?"

Mac stuck everything in his fanny pack and zipped it up. "No, I think I got it."

Leah nodded. "Okay, either you can leave her here for awhile until she wakes up or just take her with you. I suggest you take her; she'll probably be better waking up at home then here. I also suggest you get some extra strength aspirin, she's going to hurt when she does wake up."

MacGyver put an arm under Gillian's head and an arm under her knees, he lifted her up. "Thanks Leah, we'll be back in a week."

Pete had helped MacGyver get Gillian home; he stayed for a while until Mac finally threw him out and made him go home to get some sleep. The long night up in a tree had taken its toll on the Director of Operations and Mac couldn't make him stay any more, he was tired. 

Gillian was still out; she was lying on her right side. Mac was lying beside her, he was stroking her face. Finally she started to stir, her face was pained. She reached out to touch her arm but he grabbed her hand before she touched it. This caused the young woman to open her eyes. "Mac?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Where are we?"

"Home." He turned towards her nightstand and picked up the bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. "Here, take these." He opened the bottle and poured two tablets into her hand; she popped them into her mouth and drank some of the water. "How do you feel?"

"Terrible, my arm hurts and I feel weak." She looked down at her torn clothes and her scratched body. "And I need a shower."

Mac sat up and reached over the side of the bed. He picked up a box of clear plastic wrap and his duct tape. "I got that covered, come on."

He got up and stretched out his hand. She took it and got off the bed, her knees felt a little rubbery and he grabbed her good arm to keep her steady. "Easy now."

The couple walked to the bathroom and the first thing she did was carefully take her sports bra off; it brushed the bandage and she hissed through her teeth. 

MacGyver lifted her arm and took the plastic wrap out of the box; he put it on her arm and started wrapping it around the bandage several times. When he was satisfied that it was sufficiently covered he took his tape and cut two very long strips, he wrapped them around both ends of the wrap. "There, that should keep it dry."

Gillian was still feeling woozy; she pulled back the curtain and bent down a little to turn on the water; the room suddenly shifted. 

Mac put his hand on her shoulder and sat her down on the toilet. "Why don't you let me do that?"

She covered her face with her hands. "Good idea."

Mac reached around her and turned on the water; when it was a nice temperature he turned the spray on and helped her stand up. "Are you sure you can do this?"

Gillian sighed. "I don't know, I still feel pretty weak."

MacGyver gave her a smile. "Well then I guess I'll just have to help you." He lifted his t-shirt over his head and started to get undressed.

"Did you get enough to eat?"

The couple was on their bed, both in their pajamas; Gillian was sitting on her husband's lap. "Yeah, I did, thanks."

"Do you feel better?"

"Actually I do."

After their shower MacGyver had made turkey and cheese sandwiches for them to eat, he put the two plates aside. Gillian was curled up in lap like a little girl and he was gently touching her hair. "How's your arm feel?"

"Better, it doesn't hurt as much."

MacGyver sighed, he thought about how much pain she had been in when they were at the hospital; it made him hug her to him tighter. 

"Why did you sigh like that?"

"No reason."

Gillian lifted her head and looked at him. "Try again."

Mac wiped his hand down his face. "I was just thinking about the hospital."

"I know, those shots were not fun at all."

"No they weren't."

Gillian knew why he had sighed. She had seen his face at the hospital; her being in that much pain had gotten to him. She gave him a kiss on the lips, it was very gentle.

"What was that for?"

She smiled at her husband. "For taking care of me, at the hospital and afterwards."

MacGyver touched the end of her button nose. "Hey that's what I'm here for."

Gillian kissed him again and touched his forehead to hers. "When my arm starts getting better I'll thank you properly."

Gillian was called into Pete's office. She had stopped what she was doing and walked down the hall towards it. She knocked on the door and heard Pete invite her in. She opened the door and to her surprise there was a crowd in there.  Both Pete and MacGyver were there, the board members were all there and so was a man that she didn't recognize.

"Come on in Gillian."

The young woman had been told to dress up and now she knew why. She wore a simple black skirt and a blue sleeveless shirt. It had only been a few days since her trip down the hill and her arm was still heavily bandaged. "Hi, umm... what's going on?"

Pete walked over to her and took her hand; he led her over to his desk to an older man with salt and pepper hair.  He had to be in his mid 50's; he was dressed in a very expensive navy blue suit. This man was standing next to her husband, who was all smiles.

"Gillian I want you to meet Lance Covington, he is the chairman of the board."

Gillian had presented things to the board members many times, but the chairman was never present. She stuck out her hand and he gently shook it. "A pleasure to meet you Mr. Covington."

The chairman smiled at her. "No, the pleasure is mine. We were told by our OP Leader about you finishing the program, what you probably don't know is that you are the only woman that has ever done that."

Gillian looked surprised. "Really? I am?"

Lance nodded. "Yes, you are the first female operative the Phoenix Foundation has ever had." 

He took something from Pete and gave it to her. "It is my pleasure to present this Certificate of Achievement to Gillian MacGyver for her completion of the Operative Program. And with it I am proud to give you your brand new ID card that now shows your new security clearance as a level 5. This commendation will be noted in your employee record, Congratulations Gillian."

Gillian smiled widely as she took everything from him. "Thank you Mr. Covington, and to the board, and to the OP Leader, who I am proud to say is my husband. He gave me the encouragement and the confidence to do this."

Lance smiled at the young woman. "This is also a first for Phoenix, a husband and wife operative team.

MacGyver nodded. "I think my wife would come in handy on some of the assignments."

The chairman of the board looked at him. "So you approve of this MacGyver? I'm glad; some husbands might not be so willing to have their wives work with them."

"We've worked together before Lance, right Gillian?"

Gillian nodded. "He's right, we have."

Lance Covington smiled. "Well this definitely opens a lot of doors for the both of you."

MacGyver and Gillian looked at each other and smiled, they both knew he was right.


End file.
